Unnecessary outside broadcasts

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

The BBC is always pleading poverty and asking for more taxpayey's money from the British Government. The independent channels are said to be damn near bankrupt through the loss of advertising revenue. Yet they all continue to throw money away on unnecessary outside broadcasts.

I am not speaking about reporters commenting from the hot news spots of this world. I am talking about some bloke or woman standing in front of the House of Commons at 11 o'clock at night nattering on about some trivial issue discussed there that day. You know what I mean, 'And here we go over to Daisy McAndrew live at the House of Commons.' There she stands as the traffic passes by, with a House of Commons backdrop, her hair blowing in the wind , and maybe under an umbrella if it's pissing down - and saying just the same things that she could have said in the studio.

What you can't see of course are the lights, the cameras, the technicians and the 20 or so people surrounding her to produce this 30 second clip. And no doubt, at 11 pm, they are all on overtime. Complete waste of money.